Prayers and Meditations — §267

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 267 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

أَمْرِكَ، وَكُلَّمَا اشْتَدَّ البَلاءُ فَوَعِزَّتِكَ زَادَ البَهآءُ فِي إِظْهارِ سَلْطَنَتِكَ وَإَبْرازِ قُدْرَتِكَ إِلى أَنْ أَدْخَلُوهُ الظَّالِمُونَ فِي سِجْنِ العَكَّا، وَجَعَلُوا أَهْلِي أُسارى فِي الزَّورآءِ، فَوَعِزَّتِكَ يا إِلهِي كُلَّما وَرَدَ عَلَيَّ بَلاءٌ فِي سَبِيلِكَ زَادَ سُرُوري وَبَهْجَتِي، فَوَنَفْسِكَ يا مالِكَ المُلُوكِ ما مَنَعَنِي المُلُوكَ عَنْ ذِكْرِكَ وَثَنائِكَ وَلَوْ اجْتَمَعَ عَلَيَّ كُلُّهُمْ كما اجْتَمَعُوا بِأَسْيافٍ شاحِذَةٍ وَرِماحٍ نافِذَةٍ لا أَتَوَقَّفُ فِي ذِكْرِكَ بَيْنَ سَمائِكَ وَأَرْضِكَ وَأَقُولُ يا مَحْبُوبِي هذا وَجْهِيْ قَدْ فَدَيْتُهُ لِوَجْهِكَ وَهذِهِ نَفْسِيْ قَدْ فَدَيْتُها لِنَفْسِكَ وَهذا دَمِي يَغْلِي فِي أَعْضائِي شَوقًا لِسَفْكِهِ فِي حُبِّكَ وَسَبِيلِكَ، وَلَوْ أَنْتَ تَرَانِي يا إِلهِي فِي مَحَلِّ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

And finally, I was cast by the transgressors into the prison-city of ‘Akká, and my kindred were made captives in Baghdád. The power of Thy might beareth me witness, O my God! Every trouble that hath touched me in Thy path hath added to my joy and increased my gladness. I swear by Thee, O Thou Who art the King of Kings! None of the kings of the earth hath power to hinder me from remembering Thee or from extolling Thy virtues. Were they to be leagued—as they have been leagued—against me, and to brandish their sharpest swords and most afflictive spears against me, I would not hesitate to magnify Thy name before all them that are in Thy heaven and on Thy earth. Nay rather, I would cry out and say: “This, O my Beloved, is my face which I have offered up for Thy face, and this is my spirit which I have sacrificed for Thy spirit, and this is my blood that seetheth in my veins, in its longing to be shed for love of Thee and in Thy path.”

Translation Notes

أَمْرِكَ،

ʾ-m-r

literal: command; cause; matter; affair; Cause (of God); to command; to order

اشْتَدَّ

sh-d-d

literal: strong; severe; intense; violent

البَلاءُ

b-l-w

literal: affliction; trial; calamity

فَوَعِزَّتِكَ

ʿ-z-z

literal: glory; might; honor; dignity; power; majesty

زَادَ

z-y-d → “waxed greater and greater” Distinctive

literal: increase; excess; more; additional; to increase; to grow; to be added

البَهآءُ

b-h-w

literal: splendor; glory; magnificence; Bahá (Proper Name in Bahá’í texts)

فِي

f-y → “in”

literal: in; in-it; in it

إِظْهارِ

ẓ-h-r

literal: manifestation; appearance; to appear; to manifest; to display; to reveal; ظهور here means ‘backs’ (plural of ظهر), different semantic use than manifestation

سَلْطَنَتِكَ

s-l-ṭ → “King” Distinctive

literal: dominion; authority; power; sovereignty; control

وَإَبْرازِ

b-r-z

literal: appearance; manifestation; coming forth

قُدْرَتِكَ

q-d-r → “power”

literal: power; might; decree; measure; worth

إِلى

ʾ-l-y

literal: except; but; if not; lo; now; at this time; save; only; unless

أَنْ

ʾ-n

literal: that; those; he; she; it

أَدْخَلُوهُ

d-kh-l → “enter”

literal: enter; entered; entering

الظَّالِمُونَ

ẓ-l-m → “the transgressors”

literal: wrongedness, oppression, meekness; state of being wronged or oppressed

سِجْنِ

s-j-n → “prison-city of”

literal: prison, imprisonment; to imprison

وَجَعَلُوا

j-ʿ-l → “and my”

literal: make; made; to make

أَهْلِي

ʾ-h-l → “people” Distinctive

literal: people; inhabitants; family; kin; worthy; deserving; my family; my people; my kin

أُسارى

ʾ-s-r → “from his chains” Distinctive

literal: captive; captives; captive/prisoner

الزَّورآءِ،

z-w-r → “visit”

literal: falsification; distortion; forgery

يا

y-ʾ → “O”

literal: O; or

إِلهِي

ʾ-l-h → “my God”

literal: God; Allah; deity; Divinity; divine nature; godhood

كُلَّما

k-l-l → “Every trouble” Distinctive

literal: agency; representation; trusteeship; delegated authority; to rely; to trust; to place trust in

وَرَدَ

w-r-d → “hath touched” Distinctive

literal: to enter, to come, to befall, to arrive

عَلَيَّ

ʿ-l-w → “me” Distinctive

literal: highest; most high; supreme

سَبِيلِكَ

s-b-l → “Thy path”

literal: path; way; road; cause; means

سُرُوري

s-r-r → “my joy”

literal: throne; couch; seat of authority

وَبَهْجَتِي،

b-h-j → “rejoice” Distinctive

literal: joy; splendor; beauty; radiance; delight

فَوَنَفْسِكَ

n-f-s → “souls” Distinctive

literal: soul; self; person; essence

المُلُوكِ

m-l-k → “Kings”

literal: kingdom; dominion; realm; sovereignty; possessions; property; ownership

ما

m-ʾ → “that”

literal: what; which; that which; relative pronoun; interrogative

مَنَعَنِي

m-n-ʿ → “hath power to hinder”

literal: forbidden; prevented; deprived

عَنْ

ʿ-n → “from”

literal: from; about; concerning; away from

ذِكْرِكَ

dh-k-r → “remembering Thee” Distinctive

literal: remembrance; mention; memory; invocation; reminders; commemorations

وَثَنائِكَ

th-n-y → “from extolling Thy virtues”

literal: praise; commendation; eulogy; glorification; praise, commendation, eulogy

وَلَوْ

l-w → “If”

literal: were it not for; if not for; save for

اجْتَمَعَ

j-m-ʿ → “all” Distinctive

literal: to gather; to assemble; group; number

كما

k-m

literal: as; like; how much; lane; street; quarter; abode

بِأَسْيافٍ

s-y-f → “their sharpest swords”

literal: sword

شاحِذَةٍ

sh-ḥ-dh

literal: sharpened, whetted, keen

وَرِماحٍ

r-m-ḥ → “most afflictive spears”

literal: spears; spear, lance; spear

نافِذَةٍ

n-f-dh → “irresistible”

literal: penetrating, effective; piercing; decisive

لا

l-ʾ → “or”

literal: no; not; negation particle

أَتَوَقَّفُ

w-q-f

literal: aware; standing; stopping

بَيْنَ

b-y-n → “before” Distinctive

literal: to manifest; to make clear; clear, evident; in; among; between; at this moment

سَمائِكَ

s-m-w → “Thy heaven”

literal: name; heaven; names

وَأَرْضِكَ

ʾ-r-ḍ → “Thy earth”

literal: earth; land; ground; country

وَأَقُولُ

q-w-l → “say”

literal: little; few; scanty; small in quantity

مَحْبُوبِي

ḥ-b-b → “O my Beloved”

literal: love; affection

هذا

h-dh-ʾ → ““This”

literal: this; that

وَجْهِيْ

w-j-h → “my face”

literal: face; countenance; direction; aspect

قَدْ

q-d → “We have been”

literal: verily; indeed; certainly (particle of emphasis)

فَدَيْتُهُ

f-d-y → “offered up”

literal: to sacrifice; to ransom; to redeem; to sacrifice oneself for

دَمِي

d-m-y → “my blood”

literal: breath; moment; instant

يَغْلِي

gh-l-y → “seetheth”

literal: boils

أَعْضائِي

ʿ-ḍ-w → “members” Distinctive

literal: verse; sign; miracle; testimony; token

شَوقًا

sh-w-q → “in its longing”

literal: to encourage; to incite; yearning; enthusiasm

لِسَفْكِهِ

s-f-k → “to be shed”

literal: to shed; to spill; bloodshed; to shed (blood)

أَنْتَ

ʾ-n-t → “Thou”

literal: you (masculine singular)

تَرَانِي

r-ʾ-y

literal: to see; to perceive; to look; to see, to observe, to behold; to view; vision; dream; sight; ل is prefix; verb تری (you see) is from ر-ا-ي

مَحَلِّ

ḥ-l-l

literal: place; location; spot

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

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16 ¶

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291 ¶

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17 ¶

Tablet of Carmel

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5 ¶

Tablet of the Holy Mariner

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57 ¶

The Hidden Words

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Seventy-one Arabic and eighty-two Persian aphorisms revealed around 1858 while walking along the banks of the Tigris in Baghdad. Originally designated the “Hidden Book of Fáṭimih,” Shoghi Effendi described it as a marvelous collection of gem-like utterances occupying a position of unsurpassed preeminence among the ethical writings of the Faith.

160 ¶

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‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in three parts between 1901 and 1908, opened and read after His passing on 28 November 1921. Shoghi Effendi designated it the Charter of the New World Order — the mightiest instrument forged to ensure the continuity of the three ages of the Bahá’í Dispensation.

59 ¶